Japan Airlines Is Offering Free Mobile Internet Access

Japan Airlines

Japan has its own telecommunication protocol (e.g. distinct LTE bands) which can make it difficult for oversea passengers to use their mobile devices aboard.

Japan Airlines (IATA Airline Code – JL) in partnership with Wire and Wireless Co., Ltd announced that they will begin to offer free internet access to JL’s oversea travellers.

Details

Beginning on December 2, 2014, eligible oversea passengers will be able to register an account on Japan Airlines’ website which will provide access to over 200,000 hotspots managed by Wire and Wireless Co., Ltd around Japan.

“We are pleased to enter into a cooperation with Wi2 so that we can provide our overseas customers traveling to Japan with an even higher level of service,” said Yoshiharu Ueki, President of Japan Airlines. “And we hope our customers will have a more enjoyable visit because they can now more easily stay connected.”

From the instructions, passengers will receive one NTT East free Wi-Fi ID/password (14-day) and one Wi2 free Wi-Fi ID/password (one-week) can be issued for each booking record.

Once they have set up an id and password, passengers can access the hotspots using instructions below:

Information taken from Japan Airlines’ website on December 7, 2014 (All Rights Reserved)

Analysis

Japan Airlines is one of the first to offer its passengers with services after completion of flights. Introducing free wifi hotspot service for oversea passengers not only benefits flyers but also promotes tourism.

Winners

Passengers are the big winner here as they now have access to over 200,000 wireless hotspots throughout Japan.

Japan Airlines can get a lot of goodwill from this new program if it can execute well

Japanese tourism can benefit from promoting this service not offered in many countries around the world

Others

All Nippon Airways (NH), the chief rival for Japan Airlines might want to monitor whether this program is successful and might have to work with telecom companies to offer similar services.

It seems that only flights booked with JL flight numbers would qualify. Passengers with code-shared on JL metal flights might need to find the appropriate JL flight number.